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Mill Girl. 1842-1843

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Purple **^*Sparkly*^** Diamond

Purple **^*Sparkly*^** Diamond Report 3 Apr 2010 00:21

I will have to look out for this one, it sounds my kind of read.
We don't know how lucky we are - our poor ancestors mostly had a hard old life of it.

It's dreadful to think that in parts of the world, hard dangerous work is still being done by children and adults, for such mean pay.

Lizx

BrendafromWales

BrendafromWales Report 2 Apr 2010 10:41

Joanna,
It mentions the piecers in this book and how hard it was.

Why don't you ask in your library and see if they can order it for you.It's only a thin book and easy reading.It does give you an insight into the work and also the strikes,poverty and hunger,and the uprising of the Chartist movement.

Joanna

Joanna Report 2 Apr 2010 01:06

A lot of my maternal ancestors worked in the cotton mills round Manchester and Rochdale, and my Great-Grandpa was a mule piecer by the time he was 12 in 1861.
I can't imagine how tired he must have been at the end of each day, after walking so many miles, following the machines. One of his younger sisters did the same work, aged 7!
Some of my family were the little ones scavenging underneath those moving machines.Thank God my sons never had to work so hard in such danger at such young ages.
I must try and find the above-mentioned book.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpiecers.htm

Joanna

BrendafromWales

BrendafromWales Report 1 Apr 2010 19:49

I will see if they have Larkrise to Candleford in the library as have loved the series.
The mill girl is written in diary form and shows how the cotton afffected their breathing as they got covered in it,and little children going under the looms,which were very dangerous to pick up the waste.

Annina

Annina Report 1 Apr 2010 17:20

For anone with Ag Labs in their tree,Brother to the Ox is a brilliant picture of life on Victorian farms.

BrendafromWales

BrendafromWales Report 1 Apr 2010 14:48

Wonder if anyone has read this book?

My Story.....Mill girl...A Victorian Girl's Diary 1842-1843. by Sue Reid.

I'm part way through this book and it gives a good idea of what it was like in the cotton mills in Lancashire.This one is Great Ancoats St area of Manchester.

Some of my grandmother's sisters worked in these mills and the conditions were even worse that I thought.Starting work at 9 or 10 years of age and 12 hour days for little pay.I wonder how today's generation would cope!!!
Brenda x

will look in later as going out now.